Brian O'Driscoll said it showed the "sign of a good team" that Ireland led against England at half-time despite a frustrating first-half for Andy Farrell's men at Twickenham.
Ireland lead 12-8 at the break as the result of some brilliant kicking from Jack Crowley as they chased back-to-back Grand Slams.
O'Driscoll said on ITV: "Sign of a good team. You know you're not playing your game, you haven't really had that much access into it. It's been a bit of an un-Irish performance. You look at four penalties, just taking advantage of a little bit of indiscipline.
"England have only given away six penalties so far in this game, but the important thing is where they've given them away and Jack Crowley has converted very, very well, so Ireland will be a little bit frustrated that they haven't managed to put a whole lot together, but they know that they have that in their armoury and they're on top on the scoreboard and England have fired a lot of shots at them."
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